shadowbringers spoilers galore.

[exarchal]

Strange purple trees. A towering blue crystal spire. And a thriving community of people who have built additions to this tower, lived and loved and died to protect the beacon of hope for their world.

The ancients' wish has come true.

Welcome to the Crystarium.





[Here's an open post for all your spoilery ffxiv needs. Thread and cry as much as you need 👀]

Comments

[exarchal]

Must you wound me so when I am not long recovered?

[Bards.

But more seriously, he's caught off-guard by such a candid answer... and an offer. He's quiet again as he tries to find the words-- he's usually so damn loquacious-- but to dangle his dream in front of him like that, even his past self, is too much. There are tears in his eyes and he can't deny them, though he does try to bury them in his sleeve when it feels like they might fall.]

... M-my heart swells simply to imagine it. Know that I would go without question, short as my slumber would be.

You need only ask. 'Tis no time for sleeping, I am afraid.

[thaumewturge]

[Oh no, not the tears again. Rhel starts digging around for her handkerchief, offering it to poor G'raha.]

And, should it take more time to wake him, I would come here. And make the same offer to you. I would make it now, if I had the time, but with the Source as it is...

[exarchal]

[He reaches out to take it, but he stops when she mentions making that same offer to him. There's no stopping these tears now, though he tries in vain to smile through them. Now he'll have that handkerchief, thank you.]

Nothing on this world or the last would bring me more joy, old friend. Nothing.

[He sniffles and he hates how dumb that sounds, crying over dinner, but here he is.]

I...

[He could remain silent about it, lock away another secret. But he can't do that when she's looking at him like that and offering him his dream on a silver platter. She deserves better.

He sets the handkerchief down.]

I cannot follow you to the Source. When I accepted part of the Crystal Tower into myself, I shed my freedom along with my humanity. I have tried yet for all my ministrations, I cannot cross the threshold.

Such dreams are for younger adventurers to accept, perhaps...

[thaumewturge]

Oh.

[Here she is, trying to make him feel better, and all she's doing is making him cry harder. She's terrible at this.]

I had no idea. And there's no way to...to undo what you've done? To separate tower from Exarch?

[exarchal]

[He shakes his head.]

I do not know. Perhaps 'tis the Crystal Tower's magic that refuses to release me to another, but there is the matter of my younger self residing in the Source as well. I would prefer not to paradox myself out of existence entirely by jeopardizing the one who sleeps, though a certain amount of risk came with averting the Eighth Umbral Calamity. That is a different matter entirely, I feel... and a price I was willing to pay.

[He finally sets his fingertips, the fleshy ones, on her palm.]

But I would share what remains of this world with you, as it grows and rebuilds from the Flood. And when you meet the other G'raha Tia again—if I could entreat you to treat him the way you treat me, and give him the chances I never had, I would die without regret.

[thaumewturge]

You don't have to ask, G'raha.

[She shifts to take his hand, smiling softly.]

Provided your sleeping self isn't as fond of puns. I know he's fond of pranks, but puns may be a bit of a dealbreaker.

[exarchal]

[He finds a smile for her now, a real one, teary-eyed as it is. His eyes pinch at the corners. They are ruby red and just as warm.]

Thank you.

[Boy she really hates puns, huh. He chuckles.]

I cannot help that which I was, and that which I was, 'twas... a bard.

[thaumewturge]

And I won't be held responsible if I end up shoving you both off the stairs one of these days.

[Just saying.]

Now, are you still hungry or would you like to retire with wine and chat?

[exarchal]

[He holds up his other hand in a gesture of surrender.]

Your remark has been noted!

[And it will probably be ignored, because he does love words. Too many of them.]

If you need a while to finish, I will stay. Admittedly, my appetite is not as it used to be, but 'tis no cause for concern.

[He managed to eat that kebab though which is something.]

[thaumewturge]

You'd think being connected to a crystal power source, you'd need to eat more.

[Don't mind her, she's starving.]

Though this does remind me, why in the name of the Twelve did you let them haul tomestones out of there? Tomestones, G'raha. I know you remember my complaints about Rowena and her....everything.

[exarchal]

I draw some energy from the Crystal Tower, being a part of it, so I am now part of whatever mystery keeps the torches lit.

[SHUT UP AND EAT SOMETHING, RHEL...]

I thought they may be able to see what I could not. Fortunately, I was correct. [He shrugs.] Say what you will about Rowena's cutthroat methods and penchant for business, but she employed those who would otherwise find themselves bereft of hearth and home. These people had nothing—I could not open the doors fast enough.

[thaumewturge]

[She is, she is! She's just chatty!]

Oh she's a bastion of local economy, don't misunderstand, but she's also a pain in my arse and the arses of every adventurer who dares pass her by. She has branches all over Eorzea! I can't escape her!

[exarchal]

[He's trying not to laugh but he can't keep a grin off his face.]

Have you tried Sharlayan?

[thaumewturge]

Not yet, but you know she'd show up there too! And probably rope the twins' father into it, he sounds like a man who might fall for her tricks.

[exarchal]

The head of the Leveilleur house is not one to be trifled with, but Rowena does have a way of wearing people down...

I suppose you shall simply have to stay here.

[He seems fairly pleased with this conclusion.]

[thaumewturge]

Oh, don't tempt me. I've already had dreams of retiring to the First, when all is said and done.

[exarchal]

[Oh, do not give him false hope.]

You-- you were considering it? Even though you are no native, and the world is undeniably a ghost of what it once was?

[thaumewturge]

[She nods.]

It wouldn't be until after everything on the Source is handled, but...there's a charm to the First, something undeniable and peaceful now that the Light's gone. I know it won't last, but after so long I think it might be nice to just retreat here, lock myself away in the Cabinet, and rest.

[exarchal]

[He's surprised but pleasantly so, the light in his eyes returning some.]

It does have something charming about it, though I confess to a certain bias. I have grown as fond of this world as the one I was born into. I thought you, at least, might come to understand this-- and 'twould seem I was correct.

The people of the Crystarium would be happy to have you. Though it pains me to deprive a world of its champion, so long as you can freely travel at your leisure, I see no harm in it.

I would never refuse you.

[thaumewturge]

[She smiles and squeezes his hand, honestly relieved to hear that.]

Who knows, I might even bind myself to the Tower and join you as a steward. Wouldn't that be something?

[exarchal]

[And here is the illustrious leader of the Crystarium performing a mental keysmash.]

That-- that is not-- my friend, that is how monsters are made and unearthed thousands of years later by unsuspecting adventurers.

[thaumewturge]

Oh? Isn't that exactly what you did? Are you calling yourself a monster?

[exarchal]

[His hesitation is very telling.]

I gave up my humanity so that I might live to see my work done and the ancients' wish fulfilled.

[thaumewturge]

And? I don't see a monster.

[exarchal]

[What.]

And if the crystal continues to eat away at my body, pray tell, what will I seem to you then?